When an all-time great dynasty is brought to an end by a particular team, it’s often assumed that some level of animosity naturally follows. That has long been the perception surrounding the fierce battles between the Boston Celtics and Detroit “Bad Boys” Pistons in the late 1980s, especially since it was the latter who ended all hopes for Larry Bird & Co. to chase titles after experiencing their own share of heartbreak through them.
However, Rick Mahorn, who was at the forefront of that rivalry, clarified that while those matchups were certainly intense, they never gave rise to personal hatred towards any individual player for him.
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Mahorn on his true feelings against the Celtics stars
Mahorn was part of the Pistons team that came agonizingly close to beating the Celtics in the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals. Thus, he witnessed firsthand how Bird’s infamous steal in Game 5 turned the tide of that series and made Boston reach the championship round. However, redemption came swiftly: Bad Boys eliminated the C’s in the ’88 ECFs in six games, and then in the first round of the ’89 series, they clean-swept them.
While Rick admitted that trash-talk and physicality were at their peak in those encounters, with elbows and shoving being at their fiercest, it never crossed into personal territory. Moreover, he recognized that to make it out of the conference playoff bracket, players needed to give their team an edge, so even though opposition stars like Bird or Kevin McHale were feisty, he never developed a hatred towards them, admitting that such measures were a necessity in that era.
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“You know I hate that damn leprechaun in the middle on the floor. I wanted to kick that s–t. If I can get over there and scrap his face off,” Mahorn said on Cedric Maxwell’s podcast. “But you know, it was the competition we had back then, it was never, ‘I don’t like chief, I don’t like McHale, I don’t like Bird.’ It’s not a dislike, it’s just 48 minutes of ‘I’m trying to kill you because I want to beat you.’ I ain’t got no friendship for 48 minutes… If we’re really friends, you’re gonna tell, ‘Let’s go eat something after the game.'”
This is truly what separates the ’80s era from the rest
The 1980s NBA was defined by its unfiltered physicality, where on-court altercations, including punches and full-on shoves, were almost the norm in high-stakes games. Yet, when the dust settled, players like Julius Erving, Magic Johnson and Larry Legend, who once nearly came to blows and knocked one another on the court with MMA-like punches, still shared mutual respect and admiration for each other’s greatness. Put simply, even the fiercest rivalries recognized that the intensity was born out of a collective desire to win the Larry O’Brien trophy, not out of personal disdain.
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This, perhaps, is a vital lesson for the new generation of stars. Rivalries and intense competition are an integral part of what made and will make the NBA successful, but that doesn’t mean that they have to affect their brotherhood off the court.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Aug 26, 2025, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.